When Words Come Home to Roost

"EVEN THE VERY HAIRS OF YOUR HEAD ARE NUMBERED!" That means that you are so precious to God that wherever you go and in whatever situation you find yourself, He goes with you. And who is He, the Shepherd that guards you, His sheep! Woo! Those are some powerful words, but you know folks, we sometimes need powerful reminding of Who we say we serve.

Good morning all. Do you remember the above words from my last blog? They sound good, don't they? But I have a question that I would like to ask. How many of you have had to use those words since our last blogging session? If you haven't then good for you, that means that life is treating you well at this point. If you have used them then, I am glad that we included them in this blog so that they were available to you.

You know sometimes we have to handle some people and situations like they are bombs, know what I mean? Oh, you don't quite get my meaning, huh? Alright, let me give you a scenario:

1.  Y'all, remember that I had surgery on my foot on Friday, 13 days ago. Let' say that I have a desk job in a corporation and went on back in to work on the second day after my surgery to get some work done that my boss had been clamoring for. And that while I was there, a new maintenance worker came into my cubicle and stated that he had not planned on having any workers in the office and that he had been told that he could wax the floors since our office is usually not open on Saturday's. We discussed the fact that my office was carpeted and that he could go ahead with his waxing because my office had a back door and my exit was carpeted all the way out. He seemed agreeable enough and I set about doing my work. after about three minutes, he poked his head back in the door and asked if I minded him placing my monthly ration of copy paper inside my office so that he could have access to the floor where it had been stored. I said sure. He then said that he might as well place the paper on the shelf for me. By this time, I was beginning to be a little irritated. I sighed and told him to go ahead with it if it were not going to take more than five minutes. He agreed that it would not. I had my sore foot propped up on an extra chair beside my desk because the doctor had said for me to keep it elevated, right? Well, he proceeds to stack paper and I, once again, immersed myself in my work. He then asked if he could scoot my papers over a little so that he could have room to set some of the reams of paper until he moved them to the shelf in front of my desk. I proceeded to tell him that I didn't think that was such a good idea because if he moved stuff around on my desk, something could inadvertently fall on my foot. Of course, he called the idea ludicrous and promised, sarcastically to be very careful around the lady's little foot.  By now, you know that every instinct in my body was telling me to move my foot to under my desk so that nothing would accidentally topple off on it. He looked at the foot and asked what I had done to it. I told him that I had had bones spurs taken off. He never said another word, just turned and began stacking paper from the desk to the third shelf. Each time he got a ream of paper from the corner of my desk, I cringed expecting the little metal rocking horse to fall on my foot. I went to move my foot just as he grabbed the last ream of paper with a flourish and off of the desk and onto my foot, the rocking horse fell. I was screaming at him and lambasting him but good when the Executive director showed up at my door. And asked me what tete-a-tete did we have going on? With tears swimming in my eyes, I explained that the idiot of a maintenance man had just knocked a metal rocking horse off on my foot. He looked at the foot and saw that it was wrapped heavily and booted and decided that I was making much ado about nothing. He then told me that Saturday's were now off limits to the office staff because that is when the extensive maintenance work was done. I said that I  was not aware of that company policy. He informed me that it had been sent out in office memo. He suggested that I get my stuff and go home and leave the maintenance man to do the job that the company had hired him for. I wanted to call him several words that had not been coined as of yet. I wanted to throw that metal horse through the glass window of my desk. When he told me that he wanted a write up about the incident by Monday morning, I ground out that he could have his write up today. of course, he very sarcastically reminded me that I had deterred the maintenance worker long enough for one day. Let me tell you that I could feel my lips skinning back and my tongue getting ready to stand at attention with swear words before I remembered that I did not know any proper swear words. Then too, I knew that I needed my job, so I packed my stuff and prepared to leave. As I was hobbling out of the office, my boss told me that I could use the office memo to send my report when I checked my other messages. Then he bid me "Good day! "I was livid and tried to slam the exit door as hard as I could, but it didn't work because it had one of those air stoppers. I spotted a squirrel on my way to my parking spot and told him to get out of my way. He skittered!

Now, just as impossible as my make-believe story was, so can some people's interactions in our lives be. Some people can be so calloused in their regard for us or our feelings that you feel the need for revenge strongly! They make us see red! That is when we have to take a chill pill. Read this next paragraph of mine and you will see what I mean.

See the beautiful bird in all of its fine plumage? Well, just you remember that the very hairs of your head are numbered! He sees your pain, anguish, mistreatment, ditches dug for you, etc. "Be still and know." And then you step on in His name, blessed one, step on.

Doing What I Can, While I Can,

Alma (Stepping On) Jones